March 2013 Newsletter - San Diego Association of Geologists

SAN DIEGO ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGISTS
www.sandiegogeologists.org
SDAG MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
QUATERNARY CALCARENITES OF SAN SALVADOR ISLAND, BAHAMAS,
AND JURASSIC SANDSTONES AND HOLOCENE SAND, UNITED STATES:
COMPARATIVE EOLIAN SEDIMENTOLOGY
!"#$#%&#'()*
Dr. Mario Caputo
Lecturer & Adjunct Professor of Geology
Department of Geological Sciences
San Diego State University
Where:
Bali Hai
2230 Shelter Island Dr
San Diego, CA 92106
(619) 222-1181
When:
5:30 pm – Social Hour
6:30 pm – Dinner
7:30 pm – Program
Dinner:
Luau Buffet
Cost:
$35 per person, $5 discount for members, STUDENTS: $15. Add $5 if you did
not make a reservation.
Reservations: Make your reservation online at www.sandiegogeologists.org no later than
noon, Friday, March 22nd.
Google Maps
3/11/13 4:29 AM
RESERVATIONS CANNOT BE GUARANTEED AFTER FRIDAY AT 12 NOON,
BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS PREFERRED OVER WALK-INS
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SPEAKER ABSTRACT
Dr. Mario Caputo
Lecturer & Adjunct Professor of Geology
Department of Geological Sciences
San Diego State University
Pleistocene and Holocene calcarenites -clastic limestones composed of sand-sized CaCO3 grains- on
San Salvador Island, Bahamas preserve eolian or wind-blown sedimentary structures and textures that
are comparable to those preserved in Jurassic eolian quartzarenites of southern Utah and to those
found in modern deposits of eolian sand. Outcrop occurrence and bulk sedimentary features suggest a
nonmarine, wind-blown coastal setting for the Bahamian calcarenites despite the marine nature of
component coated grains akin to ooids and skeletal framework grains. General eolian deposits owe
their origin to sedimentation by migrating wind ripples and on dunes by ripple-, grainflow-, and
grainfall-processes, which control size, packing, and sorting of framework grains; and porosity,
permeability, geometry, and distribution of respective wind-ripple, sandflow, and grainfall strata.
Grain textures affect the degree of retention of pore-liquids, which affects the degree of cementing
and response to weathering of these strata. Most modern and ancient eolian deposits are composed of
fine (0.125-0.250 mm) to medium (0.250-0.500 mm) sand. Although slightly coarser and of higher
specific gravity, CaCO3 sand of eolian calcarenites is rendered mechanically equivalent to quartz sand
by intraparticle pores.
Similar to today’s coastal dunes on parts of San Salvador Island, the history of ancient carbonate
dunes was influenced by weather/climate, sediment supply, plants, small island-size, and early
lithification. Evolution of the Quaternary dunes may have begun with small coppice or “veggie”
dunes that over time coalesced into a juvenile coastal dune ridge and elevated wind terrace, and later
into a mature dune ridge; growing in increments bounded by calcareous crusts, plant fossils, and
reactivation surfaces. Cross-bed sets < 6 m (20 ft) thick with sandflow foresets 1 cm (0.4 in) to 6 cm
(2.5 in) thick in longitudinal or down-current views, plus thin, narrow sandflow lenses enclosed in
grainfall laminae in transverse or along-strike views suggest smaller eolian dunes. Some cross-bed
sets > 6 m thick and composed mainly of sandflow foresets ! 10 cm (4 in) thick indicate larger dunes.
Ultimately, diminished sediment supply, wave spray, and rainfall fostered dune stabilization by plants
and early subaerial cementation. Consequently, entire dune-forms were preserved. Dune build-up
during Pleistocene time on San Salvador was interrupted by deflationary and soil-forming events,
which reflect sea-level drop, sediment starvation, and climate shift from arid to moist.
By comparison, ancient quartz-rich eolian systems that evolved in southern Utah and in the greater
Colorado Plateau region were fed by streams flowing across the heartland of Jurassic North America
from the Appalachian highlands. Favored by high sediment volume, arid climate, sparse vegetation,
and great areal extent, large complex dunes migrated long distances in expansive sand seas. Cross-bed
sets up to 35 m (115 ft) thick with sandflow foresets > 10 cm (4 in) thick in contact with one another
in the absence of grainfall strata reflect larger dunes. Because of erosion that is intrinsic to trains of
migrating, climbing bedforms, only strata in lower parts of ancient siliciclastic eolian dunes were
preserved by later burial diagenesis. Death of these eolian sand seas by sediment deprivation and
deflation was followed by climate change and fluvial and marine flooding, and is recorded either by
extensive super bounding surfaces or regional unconformities.
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SPEAKER BIO
Mario was an undergraduate student of geology in the early 1970s at then named San Diego State
College, where he and fellow students were groomed for BSc degrees by some of the finest
geoscientists on the west coast. With a solid foundation in sedimentology built by Pat Abbott, Mario
aspired to study Jurassic sedimentary rocks on the Colorado Plateau with Ron Blakey in an MSc
program at Northern Arizona University. In the early 1980s after 4 years with Mobil Oil Corporation,
Mario resumed formal training in classical geology at the Colorado School of Mines and ultimately at
the University of Cincinnati for a PhD degree. In 1993, he resigned his tenure as associate professor
of geology at Mississippi State University along with adjunct appointments at the Mississippi
University for Women in Columbus, MS and Millsaps College in Jackson, MS to return to California.
A four-time recipient of the Outstanding Educator Award during his 18 years at Mt. San Antonio
College, he’s now retired from full-time teaching but has part-time appointments to teach sedimentary
geology again at San Diego State University and at Cal Poly Pomona.
Mario is proud to have served the Rocky Mountain Section SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology)
as program chair, co-author, and co-editor; the Cordilleran and Rocky Mountain Sections GSA as cochair of oral and poster sessions; the Utah Geological Association as author and field trip co-leader;
and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers as guidebook editor and conference organizer.
The Pacific Section SEPM recently acknowledged his 12 years of office in the Society with Honorary
Membership and an Outstanding Service award as Managing Editor.
Mario’s publications relate to coastal geomorphology of the northern Gulf of Mexico; architecture and
paleogeography of Jurassic eolian and marginal marine strata in Utah; petrology of Quaternary eolian
limestones of the Bahamas; and paleoecology of Pleistocene invertebrates on marine terraces of Palos
Verdes Hills. Co-authored books either published or in progress include Geologic Disasters
Laboratory with Dave Best (emeritus Northern Arizona University), an oceanography workbook with
David Amiel, and Ancient Landscapes of California with Ron Blakey, a companion volume to Ron’s
book, Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau. Papers in preparation focus on tidal architecture
of Jurassic strata of southern Utah, and on the contents of this SDAG presentation.
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SDAG MEETING SCHEDULE – Mark Your Calendars!
Meetings are usually on the 3rd Wednesday of the month but may change to accommodate
speaker and meeting place schedules. Check here for updates!
THURSDAY, March 28,
2013 (FOURTH Thursday)
April 24, 2013
(FOURTH Wednesday)
May 15th, 2013
(Regular Schedule)
Dr. Mario Caputo, SDSU
SDAG Scholarship Recipients
Jonathan Goodmacher
2013 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
PRESIDENT – Cari Gomes; [email protected]
VICE PRESIDENT – Brian J. Olson; FSR Engineering; Ph: (858) 750-9243; [email protected]
TREASURER – Lee Vanderhurst; Ph: (858) 531-7729; [email protected]
SECRETARY – Jennifer Bauer Morton; [email protected]
PUBLICATIONS – Lowell Lindsay; Sunbelt Publications; Ph: (619) 258-4911, x111; fax:(619) 258-4916; [email protected]
WEBMASTER – Carolyn Glockhoff; Caro-Lion Enterprises, Ph: (858) 549-3396; [email protected]
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PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Hi Everyone:
Welcome to this month’s President’s corner.
As many of you know, our February meeting was a rousing success! Over 80 individuals showed up
for a great presentation by Al Trujillo about the exciting advancements featured in his new textbook:
Essentials of Oceanography (Prentice Hall, 2013).
March’s meeting is also shaping up to be a great one! Dr. Mario Caputo will be treating us to a
discussion about Quaternary Limestones of San Salvador Island, Bahamas, and Jurassic Sandstones
and Holocene Sand, United States: Comparative Eolian Sedimentology. This meeting will be held at
the beautiful Bali Hai. I hope you can all attend!
We are also looking forward to our traditional student presentation meeting in April. Details to
follow!
Have a great month,
Cari Gomes
2013 SDAG President
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
CALL FOR ARTICLES! SDAG invites members to submit articles on their current research or an
interesting project they are working on for publication in the monthly newsletter. The article should
be no more than 1 page in length. Photos are welcomed, too! Please submit articles to the SDAG
secretary via email.
CALL FOR PHOTOS! SDAG invites members to submit photographs of an interesting geologic
feature for publication in a new section of the newsletter – “Photo of the Month”. Please submit your
photo along with a caption to the SDAG secretary via email.
SDAG MEMEBERS FEATURED IN DEZERT MAGAZINE Check out the Winter 2013 issue of
Dezert Magazine - available online as well as in print - to see articles by SDAG notables Todd Wirths
("Picacho, the Golden Road", page 64) and Diana Lindsay ("Hike Palo Verde Canyon to the Moly
Mine", page 80). Go to http://dezertmagazine.com/dezert-magazine-archives/
SDAG RESEARCH TOOL A comprehensive listing of all papers published by SDAG, whether as
annual field trip guidebooks or special publications, is now available on our website. Entries are
sorted by primary author, or chronologically by date of publication, from our first guidebook in 1972
(40 years ago!) to all things Picacho in 2011. These can be accessed or downloaded as .pdf
files. They are fully searchable in Adobe Reader or Acrobat, so if you are researching a topic,
"tsunami" for example, you can search for that keyword. This listing will be updated as new books
are published. Thanks to Greg Peterson and Hargis + Associates, Inc., for making this possible. See
the links below:
http://www.sandiegogeologists.org/SDAG_Pubs_authors.pdf
http://www.sandiegogeologists.org/SDAG_Pubs_chronological.pdf
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lease. Warehouse from 3125 to 6250 s.f. Two offices. Mix and match to fit your needs. Ideal for
geotech operations; best possible rates and we are geology-friendly! Contact Lowell Lindsay (619)
258-4911 x111, [email protected]
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JOB OPENINGS
EXPERIENCED CHEMIST FOR DATA REVIEW H&P is looking for an experienced analytical
chemist for a part time position to review analytical data reports. The position requires a complete
understanding of EPA Methods and other regulatory methodology in compliance with Quality
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This chemist will perform a comprehensive review of all analytical data generated by the various
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to ensure it’s quality as well as support all facets of the data review process.
Requirements:
- A Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry.
- Prefer at least 5 year’s experience performing data review.
- A working knowledge of EPA Method 8260B, TO-15 and other EPA Methods
- Experience with LIMS system.
We are pleased that you are seeking employment with H&P Mobile Geochemistry, Inc. (H&P).
Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, sex, or national origin, or any factors
prohibited by local, state, or federal law. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative
Action Employer.
Please email or fax resume, salary requirements and best time you can be reached:
[email protected] or fax resume to 760-804-9159.
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SEEKING JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Qualifications Summary and Objective: I have 14 years experience directing surface water quality
monitoring programs with a proven record of excelling in monitoring plan implementation, quality
control, public notification and continuous improvement in operational effectiveness and efficiency. I
have built and maintained relationships with key staff in academia, industry, and all levels of
government in San Diego and California. I have a widely applicable skill set which includes:
analytical thinking, communication and writing skills, data analysis and management, inter and intraagency project coordination, and staff supervision and training. My objective is to obtain a career
position with an industry leader where I can contribute my skills to build the success of my employer
as well grow professionally. Detailed work experience, education and more at
www.linkedin.com/in/cbclifton2010. Email [email protected] or 619-964-1776.
Contact: Clay Clifton
ENGINEERING GEOLOGIST- California PG, MS Geology, over 13 years of applied geotechnical
experience, proficient in geotechnical investigations, hazard evaluations, geophysical surveys,
construction management and quality control, engineering analyses, special interest in earthquakehazard and seismic design related applications, strong problem-solving and organizational skills.
Detailed resume upon request: Anna, 201-407-7461, [email protected]
ENTRY-LEVEL ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST - I am a recent UCSB graduate with a double
major in Environmental Studies (BS) and Geology (BS, Earth Systems emphasis) who is looking to
begin a career in environmental consulting. I have prior lab experience in both professional and
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please contact Georgi Chertkov at [email protected] or call me at 505-412-3107.
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One Stop Wonder Led by Don Vaughn and Mike Hart
February 23, 2013
The latest One Stop Wonder was held on Saturday February 23 to view the type sections of the Cabrillo and
Point Loma Formations described and named by Mike Kennedy and George Moore (Kennedy and Moore,
1971). The field trip participants saw some spectacular geology and viewed the amazing sea-cliffs at the tip of
Pt. Loma; a view that is closed to the general public. In addition, we saw a nearly complete section through the
marine and terrestrial sediments overlying the Bird Rock terrace as well as the shoreline angles of the Bird
Rock and Nestor terraces (Marine isotope stages 5a and 5e). We began the traverse of the Pt. Loma Formation
in the lower thinly-bedded section that
consists of alternating fine yellow-brown
sandstone and gray clay shale and finished
east of the modern Coast Guard Lighthouse
in massively- bedded dark gray siltstone.
Evidence of submarine slumping (localized
contorted bedding) was also observed in the
cliffs and extensive modern abrasion
platform. In the type locality the Pt. Loma
Formation as described in Kennedy and
Moore’s 1971 paper is over 300 m thick
including that portion of this unit exposed
below sea-level to the west. From the beach
we could see the conformable contact with
the overlying Cabrillo Formation. This late
Cretaceous unit consists of massive
medium-grained sandstone and cobble
The sea cliff at the tip of Pt. Loma. Geologists for scale: Greg Farrand, Rob
conglomerate with several siltstone layers.
Hawk, Don Vaughn, Pat Abbott, Monte Marshall, Larry Busch.
Here at its type locality The Cabrillo
Formation is 81 m thick. Further north near False Point this unit attains a thickness of 170 m. We thank the
Cabrillo National Monument Supervisor Keith Lombardo and Rangers Jason Richards and Amanda Gossard
for allowing us permission to visit the closed area. We also thank Rangers Emily Floyd, Deborah Sherman,
and Bonnie Phelps for driving the group to the tidepool parking lot. If not for them ferrying us to the parking
lot in their vans we would have had a long walk down to the trail head because of the lack of parking.
Kennedy, M.P. and Moore, G., 1971, Stratigraphic relations of upper Cretaceous and Eocene Formations of San Diego
Coastal area, California, AAPG, vol. 55, no. 5, pp. 709-722.
The Feb. 23 field trip participants. Those
identifiable rt. to left; Rob Hawk, Rupert
Adams, George Morgan, Mike Hart,
Jennifer Morton, Bill Elliott, Pat Abbott,
Dave Bloom, Bryan Miller-Hicks, Larry
Busch, Don Vaughn, Monte Murbach,
Diane Murbach, Norrie Robbins, Sarah
Siren, Rangers Deborah Sherman, Emily
Floyd, and Bonnie Phelps.
Photo by Bill Griswold, Cabrillo
National Monument Artist-In-Residence.
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Request for Sponsors: 2013 SDAG/SDGS and Publication SPONSORS
On behalf of the San Diego Geological Society, Inc. (SDGS), a public benefit 501(c)3 nonprofit
educational corporation, we would like to request tax deductible Donations at our San Diego
Association of Geologists (SDAG). The list of paid Sponsors and the forms to become a Sponsor are
located on the SDAG web site at: http://www.sandiegogeologists.org/Sponsors.html. Your donation
will further the SDGS mission to promote geology and related fields in the greater San Diego region,
operating through the San Diego Association of Geologists (SDAG), a committee of SDGS. To
achieve our primary educational objective, we organize frequent field trips and maintain a program of
monthly meetings featuring speakers on current geological topics. We also publish field trip
guidebooks and other publications related to geology and natural history. We encourage scholarship
and research by awarding scholarships from the elementary through graduate levels. With your $100
"EMERALD" donation, your name/business will be listed as a sponsor on the SDAG web site
(http://www.sandiegogeologists.org/) and in the monthly SDAG meeting newsletters. With your $500
"RUBY" or $1,000 or more "DIAMOND" level donation, your business card will also be included on
the SDAG web site and in the monthly SDAG meeting newsletters. In addition, as a “$1,000 or more
DIAMOND” level donation you will be presented with a thank you plaque. Should you have any
questions regarding a Sponsorship, please contact our non-profit SDGS Secretary (Diane Murbach) at
619-865-4333.
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CORPORATE SPONSORS
Hargis + Associates, Inc. is an environmental consulting firm specializing in
hydrogeology and engineering. We are headquartered in San Diego,
California and have offices in Mesa and Tucson, Arizona. Our practice areas
include all aspects of hydrogeology and engineering.
As a client service organization, we pride ourselves in being attentive and
efficient in meeting our client's needs and solving their problems. In addition
to our technical expertise, communication and responsive coordination are
hallmarks of our reputation.
We invite you to explore our website to learn more about our firm and the
services we provide. We welcome the opportunity to discuss our consulting
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Contact: Dr. David R. Hargis
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Dr. Pat Abbott - SDSU Prof. of Geology, Emeritus
Sally & Dennis Avery
Dr. Richard Berry - SDSU Prof. of Geology and
Geophysics, Emeritus
Curtis Burdett
Larry Cann
Don Wilson Clark and Katy Freese
Joe Corones - City of San Diego
Greg Cranham - Consulting Geologist
Dr. Neal Driscoll – UCSD Professor of Geology
and Geophysics
Earth Consultants International
Eco-Rental Solutions
Dr. Margaret R. Eggers, CHG - Eggers
Environmental, Inc.
William J. Elliott, Engineering Geologist
Phil Farquharson - CG-Squared Productions
Carolyn Glockhoff - Caro-Lion Enterprises
Cari Gomes
Dr. Sarah Gray
Rob Hawk City of San Diego
Lowell A. Lindsay and Diana Lindsay - Sunbelt
Publications/AESE
Dr. Monte Marshall - SDSU Prof. of Geology and
Geophysics, Emeritus
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John Minch
Monte and Diane Murbach - Murbach Geotech
Ninyo & Moore – Ronald Hallum
Brian J. Olson
Pacific Drilling Company
Peets Coffee and Tea, Store No. 342 , Carlsbad
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Les Reed – Geotechnical Exploration Inc.
Rigid Lifelines www.rigidlifelines.com
SEALASKA Environmental Services, LLC,
Mukesh Mehta, PG, CEG
Gerald Shiller
Bob Smillie, Terra Costa Consulting Group, Inc.
Scott Snyder http://www.snydergeologic.com
Southwest Geophysics, Inc.
David and Jan Steller ("two-fer" - thanks!)
Dr. Anne Sturz
Sue Tanges - Southland Geotechnical
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Mary Walke
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Add yourself to this list - Sponsors, Corporate Sponsors, and Patrons provide a significant
portion of SDGS’s and SDAG’s operating and scholarship budgets. SDGS is a 501(c)3 public benefit
nonprofit educational corporation. For more information, please see our Sponsorship Form.
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